Established in 1987 with just163 faithful, the Tulsa, Oklahoma, Church on the Move now has more than 7,000 members worshiping at three campuses surrounding a 2,200-seat main sanctuary. Recently, its primary venue undertook a systems renovation that included the installation of an L-Acoustics K2 loudspeaker system, designed and installed by Skylark AV. A new satellite in the suburb of Broken Arrow is also slated to open with its own L-Acoustics system.

‘The church knew what they wanted, and they wanted L-Acoustics right out of the gate,’ says Skylark AV Project Manager, Steele ‘Ninja’ Beaty. ‘The only question we had to decide was which system would work best.’

Performance, musicality and SPL were the deciding factors, as Church on the Move is a contemporary church when it comes to music, and it can get loud. At the same time, we had to keep speech intelligibility in mind. ‘Fortunately, with L-Acoustics, when you achieve one, you also get the other automatically,’ says Skylark AV’s Todd ‘Linchpin’ Cromwell

‘The clarity of the K2 system is remarkable – you can have someone across the room on a microphone, and it sounds like they’re standing a foot away from you,’ says church Director of Production, Johnathan Basquez. ‘It’s the best intelligibility I’ve ever heard in a PA system, anywhere.

‘The music can go from loud to soft, from 98dB to 76dB, but it never loses its presence. We like a lot of low end in the sound, and it’s there, but we also like to be able to hear the vocals very clearly, and now we can. In fact, you can pick out each and every instrument on stage. The definition is amazing.’

Church on the Move’s new loudspeaker setup comprises ten K2 per side in a left-right configuration, with three K1-SB subs flown behind each hang and eight KS28 subs arrayed below the stage. In addition, a dozen Kara II per side are used as out fill arrays, two A15i as extreme side fill, and 14 short-throw 5XT as front fills integrated into the stage, so that they are out of sight. All loudspeakers are managed by the L-Acoustics P1 processor and connected by five LS10 plug-and-play, Avnu-certified AVB switches that integrate within the L-Acoustics ecosystem and further simplify connectivity. Fourteen LA12X amplified controllers are used to power the K2 and subs, while seven LA4X serve the Kara II and 5XT systems.

While the new system is well matched to the church’s performance needs, it’s also a good fit for what Beaty says is its top-notch technical staff. ‘The technical culture at Church on the Move is very high – they were able to keep their previous PA system going long past its prime – so the new sound system had to be commensurate with their abilities as well as the venue’s needs, and it is,’ he says. ‘They needed a concert-level PA system, and this is it.’

Basquez, who also mixes sound for weekend services, says the church’s 120-strong corps of volunteers are enjoying the sound of the new system. ‘Some of them are farmers during the week, others are running companies, but all of them can hear the difference,’ he says. ‘What’s interesting, though, is that almost everyone thinks this system is louder than what we had before, even though we’re actually running it 6dB lower. It’s all about the presence that K2 brings with it.’

Although Church on the Move’s sanctuary is a large space, both the site’s monitor and broadcast mixes are also being driven from the FOH console, and the new PA has been helpful for those as well.

‘We have now been able to remove the EQ and settings from our channel strip, which has drastically improved our monitor mixes,’ Basquez notes. ‘In fact, many of our vocalists and band members have told me that they have never heard their in-ears sound so “open, full, and natural”. And we’ve received many compliments online about our broadcast stream fidelity as well. This just proves that a transparent and well-designed speaker and system can provide additional advantages beyond the obvious ones for those who are sitting in front of the PA.’

Meanwhile, when construction on the Broken Arrow location is completed, it will house an equal sound system scaled for its 500-seat sactuary. Here, the PA will comprise a left-right system of three A10 per side – two A10 Focus and one A10 Wide – with one KS21 sub flown behind each main array and supported by four Syva Low and four Syva subs. In fact, Syva components comprised the sound system for Broken Arrow for the three years it existed as a mobile church, since July 2018. The main system is supported with left-right side fills of one A10 Focus and A10 Wide each. In addition, an X8 acts as a centre fill, all powered by three LA4X and one LA12X.

‘The Syva Lows were chosen because of the stage height because we only have 15ft of trim height in that room,’ Cromwell explains, adding that this project is being handled by Tulsa-based DC Pro, which purchased the system design and components from Skylark AV. ‘Church on the Move wants to keep its sound on the cutting edge, with the same level and quality of equipment in every location,’ he says. ‘L-Acoustics has the products we need to do that.’